Maria Vamvakinou MP today awarded two Gladstone Park schools for excellence in giving children healthy and fun activities after school.
Local lacrosse coach, Jack Wilkinson, who teaches the sport to children at the School of the Good Shepherd, and Gladstone Views Primary School After School Care Centre, were both honoured through the Australian Sports Commission Active After School Communities Program.
Mr Wilkinson has been nominated for the Five Star Community Coach Award, while Gladstone Views Primary School Out of School Hours Program has been nominated as a Super Site where children and their families are encouraged to be more active, and eat a nutritious afternoon tea.
Ms Vamvakinou visited both programs this week to see first hand how the children participated in fun sporting activities and to present the certificates.
The Active After School Communities Program is a free Australian Government initiative that gives primary school children the opportunity to experience more than 70 different sports and other physical activities after school.
“We all know that healthy children are more likely to become healthy adults, and encouraging children to participate in sport can be a gift for life,” Ms Vamvakinou said.
“The Active After School Communities Program is inclusive, fun and safe. Children can participate in games-based activities to encourage them to get active and develop their love of sport.”
Ms Vamvakinou said that the program was often the only chance many children had to participate in sport.
Through partnerships with local sporting clubs, the AASCP provided an opportunity to introduce children to sports they might not otherwise know about, and therefore encourage more families to get involved with community sport.
The AASC program which began in 2005, is an Australian Government initiative that provides primary school children with free sport and other structured physical activity programs after school (3.00pm – 5.30pm). The program is run in 3,270 schools and after school care centres across Australia.
The program aims to engage traditionally inactive children in sport and other activities, and through a positive and fun experience, develop a love of sport that motivates them to join a local sporting club.
More information about the AASC program and the awards is at www.ausport.gov.au/aasc.
